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November 27, 2007-The Week of Christ the King
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I woke up this morning with my heart burning with a desire to respond faithfully to the recent acts of violence in the Cedar Grove community. As a people of the Prince of Peace, I asked myself this question: “How can the church be a sign, an instrument, and a foretaste of peace in a community that has in recent months been scarred by violence?”
Yesterday morning, Mrs. Eva Jacobs was shot and bled to death at her home on Compton Road. The family dog was also shot and killed. There is speculation that the violence was drug related.
Earlier this summer, Corbett’s Store at the intersection of Carr Store Road and 86N was robbed at least twice. On the second occasion the clerk was stabbed repeatedly, requiring hospitalization and the closure of the store.
Early in November, a rental home on Millcreek Road (not far from the 2004 murder of Bill King, and the Anathoth Community Garden) was destroyed by fire while the family was at the beach for the weekend. The home had been entered in by force, guns taken, and then set on fire.
This summer, the home of a family in our own congregation was violated by break in and robbery. Perhaps there are other instances of violence that you are aware of in this community over the recent months.
As a people of faith, we are called to “seek the peace of the place to which we have been sent” (Jeremiah 29). As followers of Jesus Christ, we believe that Christ is our peace; that he has already broken down the walls of hostility, claiming us as children of Light, shining through the darkness of violence and oppression (read Ephesians).
So how, I ask myself, will Christ’s church shine as Peace in these days of violence? What opportunities to proclaim the Kingship of Christ have been given to us? How will these acts of violence be redeemed through Christ, and Christ’s church?
As we enter the Season of Advent, I call us to be in prayer and holy conversation about how God may be calling us as a community to respond. What if all of the Northern Orange County churches responded with a peaceful candlelight demonstration, at the site of each of these acts of violence? What if we rented the recently evacuated Millcreek Store as a safe haven for youth to come together, as a witness to the Peace that Christ makes possible in these days of terror, learning an alternative “high” to the rush they find through the use of drugs? How is God calling us to respond?
As a community of faith, let us be in prayer for the families who have been directly impacted by these acts of violence, as well as for the safety of the wider community. As Christ instructs us, let us also be in prayer for those who have been led astray by the temptations of this world, and have committed these acts of violence. As we prepare to celebrate the coming of God to us in the flesh of a baby, let us renew our own commitments to follow this Prince of Peace, who was also a victim of murder, but who defeated the cross by being raised from the grave. He ascended into heaven and sent his Holy Spirit upon us, clothing us with the power to be his Body in the world. Let us pray for the grace to receive that power.
“Fear not,” the angel said to Mary when she learned that she was to give birth to the Son of the Most High. “Fear not,” Jesus told Peter as he stepped out of the boat to walk to him on the water. As a people of the incarnate God, let us not be afraid to have Jesus dwell in us; as a people of the resurrection, let us not be afraid to step outside the comforts of our boats and into the world, as Christ’s light.
I will look forward to being in prayer with you and to actively responding as God calls us to step out in faith as a sign, an instrument, and a foretaste of the Peaceful Community.
May the Peace of Christ be with you,
Pastor Grace